Awakening the Spirit of
Practical
Creative
Effective
Collaboration
The Story of Our Name
I was originally planning to name this website something along the lines of "Practical Dialogue", as that's one way I've described the work I do, of helping groups arrive at truly effective and creative responses to practical and systemic challenges.
As my husband and I explored some variations on the name (dialogue or dialog? .com or .net?) the word DiaPraxis came to mind, inspired by the memory of Paulo Freire, one of my first teachers. We'd never heard the word before, but when we checked with Google, we were surprised and delighted to discover that the word "diapraxis" had already been coined by theologian Lisse Rassmussen to describe the work of developing mutual appreciation among people of different faiths, by working together on common humanitarian projects. She defined diapraxis as "a contextual approach to dialogue, where people meet to reveal and transform their shared reality."
Building on her work, here are some additional meanings of diapraxis:
1. the creative potential inherent in living and/or working together;
2. engaging with our differences as a resource for arriving at greater understanding and inspired action on matters of common concern;
3. the kind of conversation that creates and supports this shared work.
In honor of the many dimensions of "diapraxis", we are committed to donating a portion of the income from our consulting business to interfaith humanitarian efforts.
I was originally planning to name this website something along the lines of "Practical Dialogue", as that's one way I've described the work I do, of helping groups arrive at truly effective and creative responses to practical and systemic challenges.
As my husband and I explored some variations on the name (dialogue or dialog? .com or .net?) the word DiaPraxis came to mind, inspired by the memory of Paulo Freire, one of my first teachers. We'd never heard the word before, but when we checked with Google, we were surprised and delighted to discover that the word "diapraxis" had already been coined by theologian Lisse Rassmussen to describe the work of developing mutual appreciation among people of different faiths, by working together on common humanitarian projects. She defined diapraxis as "a contextual approach to dialogue, where people meet to reveal and transform their shared reality."
Building on her work, here are some additional meanings of diapraxis:
1. the creative potential inherent in living and/or working together;
2. engaging with our differences as a resource for arriving at greater understanding and inspired action on matters of common concern;
3. the kind of conversation that creates and supports this shared work.
In honor of the many dimensions of "diapraxis", we are committed to donating a portion of the income from our consulting business to interfaith humanitarian efforts.
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